At 53.3 in August, the seasonally adjusted Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index(PMI) recovered sharply from the 41-month low of 48.3 posted in July following the EU referendum.

The month-on-month increase in the level of the headline PMI (5.0 points) was the joint-greatest in the near 25-year survey history. The gains in the indices tracking output and new orders were similarly among the steepest on record.

Japanese Consumer Spending is Weak

5-Year Chart of Y/Y Change in Retail Sales

1-Year Chart of Y/Y Change in Retail Sales

Overall Household Spending

Brazil Impeaches Roussoff

Brazil’s senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to impeach President Dilma Rousseff in a historic decision that ends nearly 14 years of rule by her leftwing Workers’ Party in Latin America’s largest country.

Fireworks were heard in São Paulo and senators who voted to remove Ms Rousseff broke out into the national anthem after a fiery final session in which the opposing sides denounced each other as “scoundrels”.

Of the 81-seat senate, 61 voted in favour of impeachment and 20 against.

The ouster of the former Marxist guerrilla for manipulating the budget thrusts her replacement, interim president Michel Temer, into the spotlight at a time when the country is suffering what is expected to be its worst recession in over a century.

If the tie-up were completed, “Deere would control nearly every method through which American farmers can acquire effective high-speed precision planting systems”, the US Department of Justice said in a filing in federal court in Chicago.

The Lifetime Income Security Solution

How to Achieve and Protect Your Financial Goals

The Lifetime Income Security Solution

This book provides a straightforward methodology to achieve and protect your financial goals. It not only explains why an income-based investment strategy is superior to active management but also how to utilize certain deferred compensation strategies to better time income recognition. Finally, there is an overview of a simple and realistic asset protection methodology that relies less on hype and more on an honest appraisal of asset protections true capabilities. Concise and conversationally written, this book is a must for high net worth individuals and investment advisers.